"Image is Powerful but is Superficial" Cameron Russell

"Image is powerful…but also, image is superficial. Barring surgery (or the fake tan I got for work) there’s very little we can do to transform how we look. And how we look — although it is superficial and immutable — has a huge impact on our lives. Today for me, being fearless means being honest. And I am on this stage because I’m a model — I’m on this stage because I am a pretty, white woman. In my industry we call that a ‘sexy girl’" Cameron Russell. Cameron wants to have a discussion about the way that we, as a society, perceive beauty. Media representations of women, she says, are replete with racist and sexist representations, encouraging women to live up to a standard that is both oppressive and unattainable. Russell’s profession offers an insider’s perspective on the topic – after all, she has been modeling for over a decade. Watch this great talk with all power this amazing woman...

Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16-years-old.

Whatch this great talk with Cameron Russell

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxMidAtlantic, an independent event.Cameron Russell has stomped the runways for Victoria's Secret and Chanel, and has appeared in many magazines. But she is much more than just a pretty face.

"Image is powerful…but also, image is superficial. Barring surgery (or the fake tan I got for work) there’s very little we can do transform how we look. And how we look — although it is superficial and immutable — has a huge impact on our lives. Today for me, being fearless means being honest. And I am on this stage because I’m a model — I’m on this stage because I am a pretty, white woman. In my industry we call that a ‘sexy girl’" Cameron Russell.

WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN?

Cameron Russell has spent the last decade modeling. A Victoria's Secret favorite, she has appeared in multiple international editions of Vogue as well as in ads for brands like Ralph Lauren and Benetton. But she feels at her core that image isn't everything.

Cameron runs the blog ArtRoots.info, which is dedicated to covering grassroots public art and political power. She also experiments with creating street art herself. In addition, Cameron is the director of The Big Bad Lab, which creates participatory art that aims to include people in radical demonstrations of positive social change.

She's a co-founder of the new web-based magazine Interrupt, about women, identity, the internet and taking action. Read an update on her work in the New York Times

Model Cameron Russell, in her talk at TEDxMidAtlantic

Image is powerful…but
also, image is superficial. Barring surgery (or the fake tan I got for
work) there’s very little we can do to transform how we look. And how we
look — although it is superficial and immutable — has a huge impact on
our lives.

Today for me, being fearless means being honest. And I am on this
stage because I’m a model — I’m on this stage because I am a pretty,
white woman. In my industry we call that a ‘sexy girl.’

And I am going to answer the questions that people always ask me —
but with an honest twist. The first question is, ‘How do you become a
model?’ And I always just say, ‘Oh, I was scouted,’ but that means
nothing. The real way that I became a model is I won a genetic lottery
and I am the recipient of a legacy. And maybe you’re wondering. ‘What is
a legacy?’ Well, for the past few centuries, we have defined beauty not
just as health and youth and symmetry that we’re biologically
programmed to admire, but also as tall, slender figures, and femininity,
and white skin. And this a legacy that was built for me, and this is a
legacy I’ve been cashing out on.

…People ask me, ‘What is it like to be a model?’ And I think the
answer that they are looking for is that if you are a little bit
skinnier and you have shinier hair, you will be so happy and fabulous.
And when we’re backstage, we give an answer that maybe makes it seem
like that: We say, ‘It’s really amazing to travel,’ and, ‘It’s amazing
to get to work with creative, inspired, passionate people’—and those
things are true, but they’re only one half of the story because the
thing that we never say on camera, that I have never said on camera, is…
I’m insecure.

And I’m insecure because I have to think about what I look like every
day. And if you ever are wondering, ‘if I have thinner thighs and
shinier hair, will I be happier?’ you just need to meet a group of
models, because they have the thinnest thighs and the shiniest hair and
the coolest clothes and they are the most physically-insecure women
probably on the planet.

So when I was writing this talk, I found it very difficult to strike
an honest balance because — on one hand — I felt very uncomfortable to
come out here and say, ‘Look, I’ve received all these benefits from a
deck stacked in my favor,’ and I also felt really uncomfortable to
follow that up with, ‘And — it doesn’t always make me happy.’

But, mostly, it was difficult to unpack a legacy of gender and racial oppression, when I’m one of the biggest beneficiaries.

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